Electronic cigarettes managed to escape the town's ban, because they were determined to be a help for people who are attempting to quit smoking real cigarettes.

“The way the regulation was written it was a bit of an oversight,” John Ciccotelli, Canton’s director of public health, told the Patriot Ledger. “It was a bit of not really recognizing the role that electronic cigarettes have."

The regulation begins Jan. 1, and also includes a provision that would repeal the regulation after five years if it is proven to be ineffective, the article continued.

But many critics of the new tobacco regulations cite the harm to small, local businesses.

“While this community may decide that they’re going to implement this, other communities may not and you create an economic disadvantage for small businesses here in this town,” Steve Ryan, executive director of the new England Convenience Store Association, told the Ledger.